Spring 2010 English 200 Course Descriptions as of 12 11 09 ENLS 200 01 MWF 10 00 10 50 Adam McKeown Literary Investigations This course is an introduction to the practice of literary criticism the purpose of which in simplest terms is to make written artifacts more interesting and accessible to a community of readers through thoughtful relevant commentary There are no set rules for what makes commentary thoughtful or relevant like any other kind of writing criticism succeeds or fails according to whether or not an audience finds it interesting and meaningful Successful criticism however tends to be informed by trends conventions traditions habits of mind controversies and even specialized language understood by the community of dedicated readers to which it is addressed This class will introduce you to many of these elements of successful criticism so that you can better develop your love of written artifacts into critical commentary that will be interesting and meaningful to other dedicated readers We will look at a wide variety of literary works from many different time periods including poetry by Walt Whitman Allen Ginsberg and Elizabeth Bishop plays by Shakespeare and Mary Zimmerman and novels by Vladimir Nabokov and Thomas Pynchon ENLS 200 02H MW 3 00 4 15 Felipe Smith Literary Investigations ENLS 200 Literary Investigations is an introduction to the English major that has been designed to help you develop effective critical reading and writing skills In the process you will also be given a broader context for understanding the relationship between oral Myth legend folklore and written texts the evolution of the English language into its current usage the development of traditions periods tastes and genres of English American and Anglophone literature critical reading strategies for interpretation and approaches to crafting textual analyses The readings have been chosen to spotlight particular themes and genres in the literary tradition including some texts that originated outside of the English speaking world yet have an important presence in English language literature Oral Presentations short papers and research assignments ENLS 200 03 TR 9 30 10 45 Barry Ahearn Literary Investigations This course familiarizes students with a variety of ways in which texts are analyzed It also serves as an introduction to the type of critical writing specific to the discipline of English The course will examine short fiction poems a Shakespeare play some essays and a film The grade will be determined by the students efforts on library and database research essays and a final exam ENLS 200 04 TR 12 30 1 45 Laura Heffernan Literary Investigations This course is designed to introduce students to some key ways of interpreting and writing about literary texts We will take a dual approach to literary interpretation thinking about literary texts on the one hand as singular and formal works of art and on the other hand as deeply related to other texts and to history Under the banner of formalism we will address such questions as what distinguishes literary language from non literary language Should we attempt to discover or recreate an author s intended meaning or not How can we talk about why it matters how a text says what it says At the same time we will think about literature and history asking such questions as How are literary texts affected by and how do they affect their historical moment Why do certain literary forms the metaphysical poem the novel the detective story arise when they do Which do we value more texts that seem to have timeless appeal or texts that reflect their historical period Our primary texts will include Shakespeare s The Tempest John Donne s poems Edmund Burke s A Philosophical Inquiry into the Origin of our Ideas of the Sublime and the Beautiful Jane Austen s Mansfield Park Wilkie Collins s The Moonstone Virginia Woolf s To the Lighthouse and Aim C saire s A Tempest Additionally we will read a selection of critical writing so that students can get a sense of how literary critics have tackled these texts and critical questions over the years Over the course of the term students will compose a series of five close readings to be revised and collected as a final portfolio Students will be additionally responsible for attendance and participation a mid term essay and a final exam ENLS 201 01 TR 11 00 12 15 Scott Oldenburg Intro to British Lit I In this class we will survey roughly one thousand years of early British literature from Beowulf to Alexander Pope We will linger on the major works Beowulf Chaucer s Canterbury Tales Marlowe s Dr Faustus but we ll also read a variety of shorter works Assignments will include weekly critical questions some short papers a midterm and a final exam ENLS 203 01H TR 8 00 9 15 Rebecca Mark American Lit Survey ENLS 263 71 Shannon Payne Expository Writing MWF 10 00 10 50 ENLS 263 72 Shannon Payne Expository Writing MWF 12 00 12 50 ENLS 263 73 MWF 9 00 9 50 Judith Livingston Expository Writing The primary goal of this course is to help you develop your skills as a writer so that you can produce increasingly complex and coherent prose Throughout the term course assignments will emphasize the writing process as well as the final written product They are also designed to facilitate a shift in your approach to writing from a standard student essay model to one that engages your topic within a larger academic or professional discourse The readings for this course will allow students to explore ways in which U S Americans have used language to understand critique and change the world around them These readings will be drawn from three time periods The first unit will focus on antislavery discourse in the years leading up to the Civil War The second will turn our attention to the 1950s and 1960s to consider texts that grapple with the history of slavery and institutionalized racism in the United States The third will explore race relations in present day New Orleans Throughout our academic journey into the past we will always keep the present in view watching for ways the past illuminates the present as well as for moments when our own lives and experiences provide new understanding of what has come before ENLS 263 74 MWF 11 00 11 50 Judith Livingston Expository Writing The primary goal of this course is to help you develop your skills as a writer so that you can produce increasingly complex and coherent prose Throughout the term course